Road Trip - Part 2: Flora

As we are experiencing temperatures in the mid-90's here and heat indices of 110 degrees, we are remembering with longing the cool days we experienced in the Smoky Mountains and in Shenandoah National Park.

The plants and flowers were magnificent, like this amazing magnolia flower.

Have you ever compared the size of your head to a magnolia flower? It's quite humbling...
The mountains were filled with these pretty flowering mountain laurels. Sadly, we were too late for the splendor of the rhododendrons.
This was the first time I had seen the very interesting flowers of the tulip poplar trees. Aren't they most unusual?
On our walks we found many wild blueberries and
ate plenty of delicious wild strawberries.

We still found quite a few blooming flame azaleas -
with the most intense orange color.
Look at that odd fungus-like thing. Does anyone know what it is?




The only columbine we saw and that at a fairly high altitude.

And then there were plenty of mushrooms,


an old apple orchard right by our camp site in Shenandoah National Park
and ferns everywhere! It was magical!
Flowers just make me happy and I hope this post did the same for you. Stay tuned for Part 3: Fauna tomorrow!!

In the meantime, it's so good to be back home and connected with all of you once again!!